Frugality and false economies.

This is going to be somewhat short, just because.

Periodically, people talk about how many shaves they get out of their blades, ask when they should change them, and on, and on, and on.

Let's be honest here. DE razors are cheap. Straight razors are cheap (unless you spend the money for excessive hones). Cartridges aren't cheap unless you use the single edge disposables from the dollar store.

So, just to do some comparison.

Initial assumptions.
1) No special additives. Assume the same cost if it's soap, spray foam, gel, or hair tonic.
2) Assume two shaves per cutting device before doing something.
3) No handle cost.
4) No cost for items that could be considered to be 'lifetime'. (hones, strops)

Bag of 12 Bic Sensitive Shaver from Walgreens - $4.80 (cheaper from Walmart, but that's the online price)
That comes out to 40 cents per disposable. Let us assume that they are thrown away after every other shave. So 20 cents per shave.

Box of 100 Gillette Nacet (expensive) at $23 on Amazon (22.25, but I'm rounding up). We'll assume free shipping.
That's 200 shaves, at 2 shaves per blade. 23 cents per blade, so 11.5 cents per shave.

Box of 100 Astra SP at $14 from Amazon. That's 14 cents per blade, so 7 cents per shave.

Box of 10 Gem single edge razor blades from Walgreens - $5.80. That's 58 cents per blades, so 29 cents per shave.

Box of 8 Gillette Proglide multi-head razors at $31 for a box of 8. That's $3.88 per head, or $1.94 per shave. Even if we push that to five shaves, that's still 78 cents per shave.

Straight razor at $35 for honing. This one is harder to figure. I'm assuming you'd have to strop between every other shave, at a minimum. Even if you sent it out to be honed every 16 shaves, you'd still be below the cost of the Gillette Proglide.

Even the Derby Extra from Walgreens is $2 for 10. That's 10 cents per shave, at 2 shaves per blade.

What does that mean?

It means that unless you can shave for two weeks on a disposable, and four weeks on a multi-blade cartridge, you're probably going to manage to save money on the cutting devices by using a straight razor or safety razor. Single Edged blades aren't as cost efficient, but they likely will last more than two shaves.

With the cost of razor blades, you can buy 100 Shark for $8 from Amazon or E-Bay, shave every day of the year, throw them away every day, and spend less than $40. Even better - if you stick the old blades in a steel box, you can drop them off to a recycler, which you can't do with cartridges or disposables. Even with dollar store bags of 10 disposables, you're still at a higher cost than Shark (or Cloud, or some of the other less expensive DE blades)

That's convenience, of course. Once you have a strop and someone that can hone your razor, you can use a straight razor for what - a year - between honings?

Now, if you want to argue about where you're saving money, go ahead and argue about soaps vs creams vs tube gel vs canned goo vs hair tonic. That's more likely to be entertaining.

No more "I'm being wasteful by changing my blade every X number of shaves" please?

You're not.

 

I will bite on your premise, and BEG everyone else here not to nitpick on semantics, cost differences by region, or perceived slights on one’s mother’s heritage. I think the point is completely valid.

 

This is basically how I talked my wife into why I wanted to get into wet shaving. I have saved tons of money. The one thing I’d say you missed is “you may not have to spend much money of shaving creams and brushes and such if you participate in an awesome forum *cough*cough* TSD *cough*cough*. Make friends, ask questions, join in on the PIF’s.” Anyways. I am lucky enough to get just over 7 shaves out of my DE’s and up to 7 shaves out of my SE injector blades.
And a bar of soap makes more lather than any can of goo I have ever bought.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

I started shaving in... 1985 or 1986, using a Black Handled SuperSpeed given to me by my grandfather - it was a promo as part of buying a can of cigarette tobacco (for rolling your own). Yes - they had tobacco promos before Marlboro Points . By the time I was in college in 90, it was getting hard to buy blades. By 2000, next to impossible.

At that point, I was buying blades that were, roughly a dollar for 10, then 5. I'd usually get about ten to fifteen shaves out of a blade, sometimes alternating with a cordless three head rotary. I'd use the rotary if I could shave daily, but if I went more than two days, it was the blade. By 2003, I'd pretty much given up on the rotary, and stuck with the DE. Still getting up to two weeks out of one blade. That meant that I was using about 26 blades a year. I was spending more on the shaving cream than blades! Now that I'm using Arko, I'm not sure which is more expensive - the box of 100 astra, or the box of 12 ARKO.

That's why I'm not too upset about the money I spent on misc razor stuff from E-Bay. I'll recoup some of that when I part out most of my collection (should I call it a collection? Maybe a jumble?) and sell it off here.

For travelling, I STILL use the DE. I just leave the blades at home, and pick some up at the drug store at the other end. Family Dollar, Dollar General, Walgreens, Rite-aid, CVS, they all have some.

 

Yeah, been there, done that - still do that. Found that Williams was smoother than regular soap, and ARKO is better than Williams, especially for multi-days of not shaving. (not knocking Williams. I have seven or eight pucks of it)

However, I also have a can of Barbasol, and a Dr. Bronners shave crap.. I mean, cream. I haven't dared try it yet, because I just can't see how something with THAT much sugar in it can really be good for shaving.

 

My mother?



Let me tell you about my mother.

 

Nice read, @Bookworm . I cannot imagine discarding a blade after two shaves, but I think one time I discarded one after one shave. It must have been defective. I usually get a week of shaves before changing blades. Now, I have a Henckels with wedge blades, and I will never need another blade. HA!

 

Once upon a time, when Astra SPs were fairly new, I got them for something like $7.50/100. Yes, I stocked up. Not even counting the SE blades (GEM-type and Injector-type), I think I have enough blades to shave with into my 80s, at least. And that's changing them every week. Yes, I can get a comfortable week out of SPs. Well, actually, 6 shaves, since Wednesday is my "no shave" day. Just because I can.

 

Until you get bored with it, and switch to something else for the novelty.

 

exactomundo!

 

I think most of us have gotten over the cost aspect a while ago especially with all the razors we own.

 

Quite possibly, but periodically there's this whole concern about how long a blade 'should' last. I'm trying to point out that no matter how expensive your blades, you're still likely to be a bit more frugal than using cartridges.

So, a blade 'should' last as long as you use it.

 

I find blade life varies a lot for me, and that definitely affects cost. For instance, I can only get 2 shaves out of an Astra SP, but up to 4 from a Feather, or 5 from aPolsilver.

 

Wastefulness and cost are independent issues. People just care more about being wasteful when it costs them some threshold of money that they care about. Some people consider wastefulness more of an ethical issue over pure financial. Even though the typical DE blade is fairly cheap, there is no need to change it until it reaches the end of its useful life. Nothing is gained by changing the blade earlier. Whatever works for the shaver is the correct answer. Personally I just change my blade when the performance is impeded to a certain level - it does not matter the cost or number of shaves.

 

Well written post.

 

Well, I used 'two shaves' just as a way to do an apples to apples comparison. I've gotten 10 shaves from an Astra, and I've gotten one shave from a Dorco. Conversely, I've had a Dorco that I milked a weeks worth of shaves out of, and I had a Rapira that I dropped halfway into the second shave.

My attitude is that you should replace your blade once you've determined that it's not working for you. I've tossed blades before that, but it's because they sat in a razor for longer than I'd prefer, and rather than spend the time and effort to clean it and dip it in alcohol, I just put in a different one. (usually because I decided to try another brand)

So, by focusing on the number of shaves I used for the comparison, I believe you missed the point

 

I would only point out that "economy" should also take into account the time invested.
Unless you consider your time as valueless, time is an important factor.

Some folks place a very high value on the time they spend shaving (or anything else).
While others consider that time spent shaving as a great investment in their pursuit of happiness.

Most who post on this forum are likely to be hobbyists that consider their time shaving as well spent.

 

I feel like everyone wants to talk about how much cheaper wet shaving is but in the end, we all end up buying way more razors, blades, brushes, mugs, preshaves, soaps, creams and aftershaves than we really need.
With carts and canned goo, we buy just what we need because its something we have to do. With wet shaving, it always turns into a hobby and theres always some new product we want to try. Honestly, its a good problem to have.
Me personally, I didnt get into wet shaving for the savings, I got into it because its simply better. I got a straight razor shave from a barber and loved it, thats what got me into wet shaving. I wouldnt say I saved money though.

 

Yes - you _can_ spend a bunch, but I suspect that the bulk of DE shavers are like the two people I introduced to it. They're in it for a better shave, and they WILL save money. There are also that batch of weirdos doing the NB2018, and the previous years as well. I suspect that if you get one of them to list out what they paid for what they _used_ last year, it'd be a rather small number - even including replacing soap, aftershave, insteadofshave (beard oils, mustache wax, etc), and blades.

I spent a bunch last year, but in the previous years, I didn't spend much of anything except on blades. So maybe $40 each year for the previous few years.

 

Sure, I will play along even though I came to traditional shaving to get a better shave and I was willing to pay more.

There are some cheap carts out there and I guess it you get to a similar cost per shave or cheap cart versus DE blade. I mostly use straights now so I would argue if you were not a collector the cost per shave would be the lowest but there is a bigger upfront cost.

Williams or Arko, they are cheap as chips and perform for me. I will miss my other soaps and creams but if I was broke and needed to go cheap this would be it.

I will miss my soft badgers but I would go with an Omega Pro boar brush, about $10. I guess at least 2 years of use from this brush.

Two vintage straights or two new straights, since this will outlast me I am not sure what amortization schedule to use. Two razors so I can be sure to have at least one sharp razor. $100 - $400

I am gone to need some stones since I do not want to send the razors out. If I pick just a finishing stone it is cheap but I will probably need to ready to fix any chips. Once again these will outlast me, $150- $500

Alum and witch hazel, same price no matter what shaving option I choose.

So my variable cost per shave in this scenario would be very low, ultimately it depends on how I choose to depreciate the cost of razors and stones.